Japan

6th December 2017

The operator of the Monju prototype fast-breeder nuclear reactor submitted a plan Wednesday to decommission the trouble-plagued facility located in Fukui Prefecture. The most recent plan presented to the Nuclear Regulation Authority lays out a 30-year time frame to complete the project despite a number of problems that remain unresolved, including where to store the spent nuclear fuel. The government had originally hoped the Monju reactor would serve as a linchpin for its nuclear-fuel-recycling efforts as it was designed to produce more plutonium than it consumed. But it experienced a series of problems, including a leakage of sodium coolant in 1995 and equipment failures in 2012. The plant has only operated intermittently over the past two decades.

Clients have included Greenpeace, Nuclear Free Local Authorities, WWF Scotland and the UK Government’s Committee on Radioactive Waste Management.

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